00:00 Today's episode of the Huberman Lab Podcast discusses the senses of pain and pleasure, the multifaceted nature of the skin as our largest sensory organ, and the role of dopamine in motivation and anticipation of rewards.

07:48 Pleasure and pain are sensations in the body and mind that lead to pursuing or avoiding certain activities, and they are evoked by the interaction between the skin and the brain.

15:21 The brain can interpret electrical signals to create the sensations of pleasure and pain, and the somatosensory cortex plays a key role in this process, with certain areas of the body having a higher density of sensory receptors and therefore a higher resolution of touch sensation.

22:40 Anticipation and anxiety can significantly impact our experience of pain and pleasure, with the optimal window for reducing pain occurring between 20 and 40 seconds of advanced warning.

30:24 Pain threshold is subjective and varies from person to person, with some experiencing intense but brief pain and others experiencing slower rising but longer lasting pain, which is important to consider in the treatment of pain by physicians.

37:29 Getting into cold water quickly and completely, up to your neck and even submerging your shoulders, is actually less uncomfortable and cold than getting in slowly, because the cold receptors in your skin respond to relative drops in temperature and every relative change is graded, while heat receptors respond to absolute changes in temperature, so gradually moving into heat makes more sense.

44:21 Our experience of pain and the degree of damage to our body are not always correlated, as demonstrated by examples such as x-rays and the phantom limb phenomenon, highlighting the subjective nature of pain and the limitations of our understanding of how others feel.

52:14 A low-tech yet neuroscientifically sophisticated treatment for phantom limb pain involves using a mirror box to create the illusion of a symmetrical limb, which can reduce pain and induce relaxation in patients.

01:00:12 Fibromyalgia has a biological basis and can be treated with low-dose naltrexone or acetyl-l-carnitine.

01:07:52 Acetyl-l-carnitine, agmatine, and SAM-E have been shown to have notable impacts on various forms of pain and are outside the realm of prescription drugs, but it's important to do your own research and consult with a healthcare professional before taking them.

01:15:27 Acupuncture has been shown to have anti-inflammatory effects and can reduce symptoms of pain when applied to the abdomen or legs, according to a study published in the journal Neuron.

01:23:19 Insurance coverage for therapies like acupuncture is starting to emerge, while therapies like laser photobiomodulation and hypnosis have varying levels of mechanistic understanding and evidence to support their effectiveness in pain management.

01:30:55 Rubbing an area or providing pressure above or below an injury can activate A fibers and inhibit C fibers, providing pain relief, according to the gate theory of pain, and redheads have a higher pain threshold due to the MC1R gene, which leads to the production of more endogenous endorphins.

01:38:53 Redheads have a higher pain threshold due to their body's natural production of endogenous opioids, and certain patterns of thinking, such as obsessive love, can buffer against the pain response by increasing dopamine levels in the brain.

01:46:23 Pleasure serves an adaptive role in every species, including humans, and is closely associated with the dopamine and serotonin systems in the brain, as well as other molecules like oxytocin and PEA, which can enhance the perception of pleasure.

01:54:21 To maintain the ability to experience pleasure over time, it is important to avoid excessive chemical augmentation and engage in intermittent reward schedules, occasionally removing the reward, in order to keep the dopamine system properly tuned.

02:02:03 The value of different currencies, including cryptocurrency, is reflective of the dopamine that exists inside people, and rewarding someone every single time they do something exceptionally well can actually inhibit their ability to perform the same activities that led to their success.